A History of Computing Technology

by Michael R. Williams

  1. In the Beginning, 1
    1. Numeration, 1
    2. Written Number Systems, 6
      1. The Additive Number System, 7
      2. The Positional System, 8
    3. The Egyptians, 9
    4. The Greeks, 14
    5. The European Number System, 19
    6. The Far East, 27
    7. Other Forms of Notation, 32
      1. Knotted Cords for Record Keeping, 33
      2. Tally Sticks, 38
      3. Other Methods of Numerical Notation, 41
    8. Further Reading, 42
  2. Early Aids to Calculation
    1. Introduction, 46
    2. Finger Reckoning, 47
    3. The Abacus, 53
    4. The Quadrant, 66
    5. Two Legged Instruments, 74
      1. The Proportional Compass, 75
      2. The Sector, 76
    6. Napier’s Bones, 83
      1. Napier and His Bones, 83
      2. Gaspard Schott and Athanasius Kircher, 89
      3. Early Versions of Napier’s Bones, 93
      4. Genaille-Lucas Rulers, 93
    7. Logarithms, 96
    8. The Slide Rule, 105
    9. Further Reading, 112
  3. Mechanical Calculating Machines, 118
    1. Introduction, 118
    2. Wilhelm Schickard (1592-1635), 119
    3. Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), 124
    4. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716), 129
    5. Samuel Morland (1625-1695), 136
    6. Rene Grillet, 142
    7. Commercially Produced Machines, 145
      1. The Thomas Arithmometer, 145
      2. The Baldwin-Odhner Machines, 146
      3. Key-Driven Machines, 149
    8. Further Reading, 152
  4. The Babbage Machines, 154
    1. Charles Babbage (1791-1871), 154
    2. The Need for Accuracy, 160
    3. The Method of Differences, 161
    4. Babbage’s Difference Engine, 163
    5. The Scheutz Difference Engine, 170
    6. Other Attempts at Difference Engines, 175
    7. Babbage’s Analytical Engine, 177
    8. Percy Ludgate (1883-1922), 186
    9. Further Reading, 188
  5. The Analog Animals, 191
    1. Introduction, 191
    2. The Astrolabe, 192
    3. The Antikythera Device, 195
    4. Tide Predictors, 198
    5. Difference Analyzers, 201
    6. Further Reading, 207
  6. The Mechanical Monsters, 209
    1. Introduction, 209
    2. The Zuse Machines, 210
      1. Konrad Zuse, 210
      2. The Z1, 211
      3. The Z2, 214
      4. The Z3, 215
      5. THe Z4, 218
      6. The Other Zuse Machines, 220
    3. The Bell Relay Computers, 221
      1. The Situation, 221
      2. The Complex Number Calculator, 222
      3. The Relay Interpolator, 225
      4. The Models III and IV, 227
      5. The Model V (The Twin Machine), 229
      6. The Model VI, 233
    4. The Harvard Machines of Howard Aiken, 235
      1. Introduction, 235
      2. The Harvard Mark I, 235
      3. The Harvard Mark II, 243
      4. The Harvard Mark III and Mark IV, 246
    5. The IBM Calculators, 248
      1. The Punched Card System, 248
      2. The Large IBM Calculators, 254
      3. The Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC), 255
    6. Further Reading, 258
  7. The Electronic Revolution, 261
    1. Introduction, 261
    2. John Atanasoff, Clifford Berry, and the ABC, 262
    3. The ENIAC, 266
      1. Introduction, 266
      2. The Place and the Problem, 267
      3. The People, 268
      4. The Machine, 270
    4. The Colossus Machines, 284
      1. The Enigma, 284
      2. Alan Turing (1912-1954), 288
      3. The Robinsons, 289
      4. The Colossus, 291
    5. Further Reading, 294
  8. The First Stored Program Electronic Computers, 296
    1. The Genesis of the Idea, 296
    2. Computer Memory Systems, 301
      1. Introduction, 301
      2. Thermal Memories, 303
      3. Mechanical Memories, 304
      4. Delay Line Systems, 306
      5. Electrostatic Storage Mechanisms, 311
      6. Rotating Magnetic Memories, 316
      7. Static Magnetic Memories, 319
    3. The British Scene, 321
      1. Introduction, 321
      2. The Manchester Machine, 322
      3. The Cambridge Machine-EDSAC, 329
      4. The NPL Pilot Ace, 336
    4. The American Scene, 336
      1. The American Background, 344
      2. The Electronic Discrete Variable Arithmetic Computer (EDVAC), 347
      3. The Institute for Advanced Study Machine (IAS), 351
      4. The Eckert/Mauchly Machines, BINAC and UNIVAC, 358
      5. The SEAC and SWAC Machines, 365
      6. Project Whirlwind, 370
    5. Further Reading, 376
  9. Later Developments, 381
    1. Introduction, 381
    2. The Early Machines of IBM, 383
      1. The NORC, 383
      2. The 700-7000 Series Machines, 385
    3. Early Super Computers, 391
      1. The Stretch, 391
      2. The LARC, 395
      3. The Ferranti Atlas, 397
    4. The IBM/360 Series of Machines, 400
    5. Further Reading, 405
APA Citation: Williams, M. R. (. R. (1997). A history of computing technology (2nd ed.). Los Alamitos, Calif.: IEEE Computer Society Press.